Movie Review: "OPPENHEIMER", a cautionary tale

The screenwriteres strike offers some respite from the steady stream of crapulous drivel coming out of Hollywood in the Age of Woke. So bad has it been that Walt hasn't been to the cinema/theater in something like five years. But Mrs Walt talked me into going to see Oppenheimer because (she said) it says something about the persecution of people who offend the powers that be (read: Deep State, liberal elites, etc) in today's America (and Canada, aka Little America). 

Here's the first trailer, the official one.

   

And here's the second one.

   

You would think, from the trailers, that the movie is all aqbout the making of the atomic bomb. It is not. We'll come to the real story, and its relevance to the politics of 2023, in a moment, but first a capsule review: 

Oppenheimer - Directed by Christopher Nolan. Written by Christopher Nolan, based on the 2005 biolgraphy American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. 

Starring Cillian Murphy (as J. Robert Oppenheimer), Emily Blunt (Kitty Oppenheimer), Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss), and (IMHO) Florence Pugh (as Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer's sometime paramour).

Oppenheimer is the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, his role in the development of the atomic bomb, and his subsequent persecution by the Atomic Energy Commission and other instruments of Deep State in the anti-Communist mania of the McCarthy era.

Running time: 180 minutes, comprising approximately 170 minutes of dialogue, and (to wake you up) about 10 minutes of Very Loud Noises. All the same, Walt gives it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. Academy Award nominations expected for Cillian Murphy as the protagonist Robert Oppenheimer, and Robert Downey Jr as his antagonist, Lewis Strauss (factoid: He prounced it "Straws", so it wouldn't sound so Jewish). 

I thought Mr Downey was the better of the two, but he'll have to settle for Best Supporting Actor since Mr Murphy plays the hero, a good guy hounded almost to death for his naïveté in daring to hold and voice opinions contrary to those of the stablishment. Florence Pugh gets my Wally for Outstanding Nubility and Cuteness. Her face reminds me vaguely of that of Shaye Cohn, leader of Tuba Skinny, the best New Orleans jazz band going. But I digress...

The story predominantly focuses on Dr Oppenheimer's studies, his direction of the Manhattan Project during World War II, and his eventual fall from grace due to his 1954 security hearing. The Atomic Energy Commission hearing, directed from behind the scenes by Lewis Strauss, was a classic kangaroo court. The movie shifts back and forth between it and the Mr Strauss's later confirmation hearing in the Senate (he was up for Secretary of Commerce) in which his vindictiveness toward Oppenheimer was exposed, resulting in his homination being rejected.

The scenes of the AEC hearing provide the lesson to which I alluded. Dr Oppenheimer's counsel were not allowed enough time to prepare properly, or to see or hear much of the evidence against him. The prosecutor was malicious and unfair in the extreme. If he couldn't prove the scientist was a card-carrying Communist -- he wasn't! -- he was determined to show that he was a "comsymp" and "fellow traveller". The result was what you would expect. Dr Oppenheimer's security clearance was revoked and he went into exile in disgrace.

Mrs Walt, who comes from a country in which kangaroo courts and persecution for one's politics are the norm, said she was reminded of nothing so much as the current prosecutions of President Trump. "They're trying to destroy him," she said, "and will stop at nothing to do that." Indeed. 

Just yesterday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan orderered the federal trial over President Trump's alleged illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election to start on 4 March 2024 -- one day before "Super Tuesday" in the GOP presidential primary.

In so doing, she rejected both an expedited timeline requested by special presecutor Jack Smith (which would have had the trial start even earlier) and a request from Mr Trump\s lawyers to delay the trial until 2026. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance called her ruling "straight up election interference." 

A GOP consultant said, "You're starting the trial the day before the biggest primary day? It's called Super Tuesday for a reason. It's the biggest day of primaries. That's when you start the trial?" Well, that's what the Democrats [sic] and Deep State want -- to keep President Trump off the 2024 ballot since they know in a head-to-head contest he would trounce Dementia Joe, the puppet President. 

They're out to get him, if not in New York, then in Washington, and if not Washington, then Georgia. That's how the rule of law and principles of fair play and justice work in Brandon's America. And not just in America. Watch this space for more persecution news from the Great No-longer-white North.

Further viewing: Walt recommends Atomic Cafe. This 1982 cult classic juxtaposes Cold War history, propaganda, music and culture, seamlessly crafted from government-produced educational and training films, newsreels and advertisements. It's an absurdist blast from the past that would be downright laughable if it weren’t so eerily relevant to our fake news present. Click here to watch it. Running time: 1:26:37.

Further reading (highly recommended): "Donald Trump’s Trial For Election Interference Set To Begin In Time To Interfere With Election", Babylon Bee (of course), 29/8/23.